Kemiyondo Coutinho is a Ugandan playwright, actress and filmmaker based in Los Angeles. She started a music platform titled A Ka Dope aimed at giving new Uganda artists an audience. Her directorial debut short film

Kyenvu ''Kyenvu'' is a 2018 Ugandan short film written, produced and directed by Kemiyondo Coutinho and starring still Kemiyondo Coutinho, Michael Wawuyo Jr. in lead roles and supported by Rehema Nanfuka, Joel Okuyo Atiku, Alex Bwanika, Bash Luks and ot ...

won Best Narrative Short Film at Pan African Film Festival. She was featured on CNN's African Voices for her influential work in the arts.

Life

Coutinho was born in

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

in Uganda to Ugandan parents Sheila Coutinho and Alex Coutinho. At the age of three weeks she moved to Swaziland (since 2018 renamed to

Eswatini Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

) where she was initially educated. At thirteen she joined the

United World College United World Colleges (UWC) is an international network of schools and educational programmes with the shared aim of "making education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future." The organization was founde ...

Waterford Kamhlaba Waterford Kamhlaba United World College of Southern Africa (WKUWCSA), one of 18 international schools and colleges in the UWC educational movement, is located in Mbabane, Eswatini.. Waterford was the first school in southern Africa open to ch ...

in 2001. She graduated in 2007 and went to Portland, Oregon to attend Lewis & Clark College to graduate with a double major in Theater and Communications. She got her Masters in Fine Arts at The American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T). In 2007 she wrote and acted in ''Jabulile!'' which was performed at the National Arts Festival in

Grahamstown Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Port Elizabeth and southwest of East London, Eastern Cape, East London. Makhanda is the lar ...

. This play was later produced in Canada and in New York and Chicago. The play addressed the lack of opportunity open to Swazi women traders. Her second play, ''Kawuna…you’re it'', also addressed this inequality in particular with regard to

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

in 2012. In 2014 the weekly "Discover Uganda" TV Show was launched by the minister Honorable Maria Mutagamba and the Pearl Guide for

NTV Uganda NTV Uganda is a Ugandan television station under the Nation Media Group, NMG, operating in East Africa. It has been on air since 2006. It is one of the companies owned by Aga Khan IV. During the Arua elections, NTV Uganda reporter Herbert Zziwa ...

. Coutinho has hosted a series of the travel show. In July 2015 she appeared "wonderfully" as Lady Torrance in '' Orpheus Descending'' by

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the thre ...

in Seattle. Coutinho is a theatre enthusiast and the founder and artistic director of the NUVO festival that addresses both social and artistic issues in Uganda. NUVO stands for New Voices and it is intended to draw attention to the issue of HIV/Aids. Kemiyondo wrote, directed and starred in

a film about miniskirt harassment in Uganda. She also started A Ka Dope, a musical platform geared at giving new faces in the music industry a stage. She was featured on CNN's African Voices in 2017 for her work in the arts.

Works include

*''Jabulile!'' *''Kawuna…you’re it'' *''A Girl Like Me'' *''

'' * ''GREEN'' * ''Little America''

References

External links

CNN profile of her on African Voices
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coutinho, Kemiyondo Living people People from Kampala 1980s births Ugandan dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Ugandan actresses Waterford Kamhlaba alumni People educated at a United World College Lewis & Clark College alumni